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Chicago shootings leave 10 people dead
especiales
Amari Brown was killed by a man who was trying to shoot his father in what was thought to be a gang-related attack. He had been on his way home after attending Fourth of July celebrations in the city.
The boy’s father, Antonio Brown, is a ranking member of the Four Corner Hustlers gang police said. He was free on bond on a weapons charge at the time of his son's death.
Antonio Brown (2nd left) collapses in the arms of Reverend Ira Acree during a prayer for his son Amari (Reuters)
The warm weather and the fact that it was a holiday weekend were believed to partly explain the spike in gun crime.
Chicago, with 2.7 million people, is the most violent large city in the United States, with poverty, segregation, dozens of small street gangs, and a pervasive gun culture all contributing to the problem.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy personally patrolled dangerous Chicago neighbourhoods during the weekend. By putting officers on long shifts, the force beefed up its presence by about a third over the holiday weekend, he said.
In Englewood, one of the highest-crime neighborhoods in Chicago, police patrolled the streets in groups of five, during the day. At night, the neighbourhood was full of police cruisers.
At a news conference on Sunday, Mr McCarthy touted success in rounding up illegal firearms over the weekend, saying police had seized about one weapon an hour on Friday, Saturday and early Sunday. He displayed a table full of dozens of guns.
McCarthy did not dwell on the overall number of homicides, saying he believed the death toll this Fourth of July weekend was down.
Last year, news reports said between 13 and 16 people died in shootings during the holiday weekend, and close to 60 people were injured.
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